


I wrote you a song, I hope that you sing along

by DisasterSoundtrack



Category: All Time Low, Bandom
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-01 15:50:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2778878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisasterSoundtrack/pseuds/DisasterSoundtrack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>and it goes, Merry Christmas, kiss my ass!</i>
</p><p>Alex hates Christmas. He just can't get excited about snow, caroling and shopping for presents. Jack, on the other hand, wears a Santa hat for the entire December and tries every trick to make the vocalist change his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I wrote you a song, I hope that you sing along

It starts snowing on December 2nd, when they are in Chicago. They are in the middle of breakfast in a hotel restaurant, Alex going through a tower of pancakes, but he makes a mistake of looking at Jack for a second.  
  
Jack looks at Alex. Then through the window. Then back at Alex. His eyes light up with excitement.  
  
Jack drops a spoon to his plate, stands up and runs out of the restaurant, not saying one word.

“What's his deal?”, asks Zack from behind his plate of sausages.

“Just look out the window”, says Alex, voice as grim as possible with a mouth full of food.

“Oh.”

Alex drinks his coffee enjoying the last few minutes of peace before a blizzard named Jack runs back into the restaurant, ruffled hair, stepping on his sweatpants leg, an armful of something dangerously red and white covering half of his face.  
  
He drops the armful of Santa hats into Rian's lap and grins like Christmas came early.  
  
Oh, wait.

“I bought all they had in the gift shop.”

“You fucking what?”

“Come on, Rian, it's snowing! It's Christmas! Put on the hat!”

“It's December 2nd, Barakat, seriously”, Rian tries to fight back, but it's futile, everything is futile. Alex abandons his coffee and tries to leave unnoticed. He's almost out the door when he feels long arms snaking around his waist, holding him in place, and then another person is putting the hat on his head. He turns around to see Zack's apologetic face.

“He made me do it”, Zack points to Jack, a grin never leaving guitarist's features. “Sorry, bro.”

“You can't escape Christmas spirit, Lex! Come on, you gotta listen to this Christmas playlist I've made.” Suddenly Alex is dragged by Jack in the direction of the elevators, Zack bent over laughing behind him, and Alex looks at Rian for help.

Rian is sipping on his coffee, waving sadly at his fallen comrade.

*

Jack makes them play the Chicago show in Santa hats. He even buys some more and throws them into the crowd, although it's stopped snowing, like, eight hours ago. But when Jack first feels the Christmas spirit, he holds onto it until December is over.

This is going to be a tough month for Alex.

Alex decides to finish the show with _Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass_ , even though they didn't have it planned. He shows Jack the middle finger during the last chorus. Jack runs over to him and kisses his cheek.  
  
Alex rips off his own Santa hat and tosses it to the fans.

*

This is a known thing about Jack: he gets excited. He gets pumped easily and mulls over the obsessions for a long time. This is just one of many things Alex loves about him.

The problem is, Alex can't get excited about Christmas. Christmas lost its magic for him many years ago, somewhere around the time he lost his brother. He just couldn't stand looking at his mom's glassy eyes and the poker faces of other family members, he couldn't deal with how fast everything has changed. He wanted to be 10 years old again and have no worry in the world.

Christmas was when he realized his childhood has ended.

He never wanted to grow up. He is in his twenties, not a child anymore, but not an adult either, and he wonders how long will the transition phase last.

Alex is loud, silly, reckless sometimes, and almost as easy as Jack to get excited about stuff. It's just that Christmas is really not his cup of tea. There's also this painful break – up he went through a few years ago just before Christmas Eve, another memory he'd rather bury somewhere deep.

He swallows and clears his throat loudly when Jack is decorating the tourbus on December 5th, dancing it off to _Last Christmas_. Alex looks up from his laptop and tries very hard not to stare at Jack's ass, his back, his arms, his stupid hair, but somehow Jack manages to make his dance to a cliché song about lost love sexy and provocative.

Alex wants to believe it's unintentional, but with Jack, his expectations are pretty low and he doesn't believe in coincidences anymore.

“Maybe next year I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special!”, yells out Jack and dances over to Alex. Alex puts away his laptop just in time, because Jack throws himself on his lap, hanging a red glass ornament on Alex's ear.

“Can I nap on you, Lex?”, he asks, figdeting, pressing his nose into the crook of Alex's neck.

“Decorating wore you out, or was it all the dancing?”

“Nah, I just had a lot of eggnog with my dinner.” A tiny, innocent giggle escapes Jack's lips and Alex wants to capture it with his, because honestly? There is nothing innocent about Jack most of the time. Nothing innocent about the way he moves onstage, nothing innocent about how he falls asleep on the bus couch with his legs thrown over the armrest, about how he kisses Alex's forehead and lets his lips linger for a bit longer than is considered friendly.

Jack makes Alex frustrated that way. Really, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out your best friend.

So he lets his arms surround Jack, the other man snuggled into him comfortably, and allows the guitarist to have his nap. Because that's just what Alex does for his friends.

*

After they're back in Baltimore, Alex's birthday is coming like a freight train. He invites everyone over for a _Home Alone_ screening party. Watching this movie is a Christmas tradition he's actually okay with, mainly because they do it every other month when they're on tour.  
  
Jack spends the duration of the movie playing with Alex's fingers and mouthing all the lines.

They drink and party later. Alex, with growing doubts, watches Jack flirt with no girls at all.  
  
He shrugs, downs his wine and decides to have a good time.

He doesn't notice the mistletoe somebody put up in his hallway until the next morning.  
  
Alex shrugs again, hazily remembering Rian and Cassadee kissing here during the party, and decides to leave the mistletoe alone.

*

Jack calls early the next day.

“Hey Lex, I have an offer you can't refuse.”  
  
“Pretty sure you weren't my mom the last time I checked, Barakat, so I can refuse the hell out of it.”  
  
“Don't you dare sass me.”  
  
“What's the offer?”  
  
“I'm going Christmas tree shopping and I need company.”  
  
“Fuck it, Jack, don't you have, like, a family to go with you?”  
  
“They're busy”, says Jack, and then mutters something under his breath.  
  
“Speak up, Jack, I can't quite hear you.”  
  
“I said they don't think we need another tree.”  
  
“How many do you have already?”  
  
“Three.” Jack sounds half-amused, half-ashamed, and Alex's stomach does this weird flipping thing. It's snowing a little behind the window; it's one of the coldest winters he remembers.  
  
“I'm with them, Jack. Three is more than enough.”  
  
“But Aleeeex, please? I have such a great idea for decorating it. I need you to help me carry.”  
  
“Ask Rian or Zack, they're both stronger than me. And you know I have nightmares about tree shopping.”  
  
Jack goes silent for a moment, as if he's thinking about something.  
  
“Are you gonna hate Christmas forever?”  
  
Alex sighs through the phone.  
  
“Probably. I'm sorry.”  
  
Jack sighs louder. “That's okay. I'm going tomorrow morning, I think, so if you change your mind, give me a call. Bye, Alex.”  
  
“Okay. Bye.”

*

Alex end up on his couch with a jar of Nutella, on Facetime with Vic.  
  
“I'm looking for advice, man.”  
  
“Hit me up.” Vic is wearing headphones and Alex can see the window behind him, sun up, no snow at all.  
  
For someone who lives on the East Coast, Alex loves West Coast way too much.  
  
“So there's this guy I like. Kinda like, maybe. I don't know.”  
  
“Yeah. Jack.”  
  
Alex gets red in the face and his hands are sweating, because there's no way Vic should know this, yet somehow he does. Fuck, he should've realized Vic's devilish ways earlier.  
  
“Just the guy I like, okay? No names needed.”  
  
“Fine. The guy you like. What about him?”  
  
“He invited me Christmas tree shopping.”  
  
“Awesome. What happened next?”  
  
“Well, nothing. I didn't go. He wants to go tomorrow, but I said I won't.”  
  
“Why? Your hatred for Christmas is clouding your judgement or what?”  
  
“I just – I'm not sure how to handle the situation. How to handle Ja – this guy.”  
  
Vic is covering his mouth trying to stifle a laugh. He's trying so hard he disappears from view for a second and comes back with a perfectly calm face.  
  
“Alex, listen to me. Just go. Swallow your pride, make out with him behind the nicest tree, have a good time. This is an opportunity, don't waste it, don't overthink it.”  
  
“Anybody ever told you you're too smart for your own good, Vic?”  
  
“Yeah, I get that all the time.”

Alex doesn't go with Jack after all.

*

Everything about the TV is Christmas-y on Christmas Eve afternoon, so Alex turns the TV off, buries himself underneath the blankets with a cappuccino, and watches _Scarface_. He's somewhere in the middle of the movie when Jack calls him. He doesn't even get to stutter out a 'hello?' before Jack says "I'm coming over" and hangs up on Alex just like that.  
  
Fuck.

He reluctantly climbs up to his feet, throwing the blankets away, and inspects himself in the mirror. He's wearing sweatpants and a threadbare Fall Out Boy shirt from years ago which is a little tight around his shoulders. Trying to make himself look presentable for Jack makes no sense, however, because Jack has seen much worse. He has seen all the versions of Alex and never ran away screaming, that must be saying something.  
  
He's checking his fridge for beer when the doorbell rings.

It's been snowing heavily through the whole day, so there's snow in Jack's hair and his cheeks are a bit red, even though he only walked from his car. The sight is honestly adorable and Alex bathes in a thought of how hopeless he's gotten.  
  
He is beyond hopeless. He can't be helped. Somebody should have stopped him before a stupid crush on his best friend turned into this thing.

Alex's heart hurts when he lets Jack in and Jack takes off his ski jacket before nearly smothering Alex in an embrace.

"Hello there, Peanut Butter. I brought you some Christmas spirit", says Jack, and presents Alex with a bottle.

"This is fucking wine, Jackie."

"I know. Thought that might cheer you up."

Jack is grinning at him, all good - natured and Christmas - spirited, and Alex can't help but grin back.

"You wanna help me drink it?"

"Can't. I gotta drive back home in a while, family's waiting. But you can make me some tea."

"Sure."

Alex was stupid to think, even for a while, that Jack might want to stay. He's got his parents and siblings waiting for him to have a nice, warm Christmas celebration. He doesn't have to hang out with lonely Alex, watching _Scarface_.  
  
When Alex is waiting for the water to boil, he looks out the window to see just pure white behind the glass. He can't even make out the street outside.  
  
Jack is waiting on the couch, flicking through TV channels.

"Wanna talk about it, Lex?"

“About what?”

"About this", Jack gestures to Alex's decoration – free apartment, to the paused movie, to the empty coffee mugs on the floor. "Why are you doing this to yourself? Where is your mom spending Christmas?"

"At my aunt's in DC."

"Why aren't you with her?"

Alex is getting frustrated. He is almost sure Jack understands why, he's just pushing for Alex to say it. But Alex would probably choke on air trying to stutter out Tom's name.

"I just – you do this every year, Jack, and I can't, I don't want to, alright? I promise I'll be more fun on New Year's Eve. I'll be all about the fun. I just want Christmas to pass by as soon as possible."

The wind outside is getting louder and louder.

Jack says, "Okay. I understand. I'm sorry", puts his hand on top of Alex's, and starts sipping on his tea.

Jack left the TV on a local news channel. The anchor is very moved when she says, "The weather conditions in Baltimore are getting worse by the hour. The blizzard is in full effect. Everybody is advised to remain in their houses. Do not drive. There might be power shortages. The storm should calm down by tomorrow morning."

"Well, it can't be that bad, right?", asks Jack, gulping down the warm liquid.

"Let's see."

They throw on jackets and walk up to the door. Alex opens it, and then chaos happens.  
  
The wind is blowing like he hasn't seen before. The snow is so thick it's clouding everything and for a second Alex's mind vividly displays Vic walking through the snowdrifts in his shorts. Jack's car by the street is fully covered in white. Jack says "Whoa" and pulls Alex back inside, closing the door with a thud.

Some snow is lying on Alex's hallway floor. Jack looks defeated.

"I guess I'm not driving tonight anyway."

"You're not walking to the other side of town in this weather either. You have to wait it out here, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. How about we open that wine anyway? Just let me call home first."

Alex is torn right now. He feels sad for Jack, who won't be spending the evening with his family, but he's also glad he'll have him to himself, and that makes him feel like a terrible person.  
  
They watch the second half of _Scarface_ together, working on the wine, and they end up cuddling like they always do. This time it's Alex who's holding onto Jack like a little monkey, burying his nose in Jack's ridiculous Christmas sweater, which is pleasantly soft to the touch. Jack has his fingers in Alex's hair and Alex could drift off right now.

"Come on, you gotta give me something", says Jack when the movie and the wine are over.

"What? What do you mean?"

Jack is wearing his 'don't – bullshit – me' expression and Alex sighs deeply.

"You have been acting strange lately."

"I've been feeling kinda strange, you know." Alex slides off Jack's lap and puts some space between the two of them. Then he proceeds to stare at his own fingers in his lap.

"Yeah, I've been feeling strange about you too."

Alex looks up, alert, and searches for the lie on Jack's face, but he doesn't find it.

"I never said I felt strange about you", he says, and then it all goes to hell.

Jack visibly panics, stands up from Alex's couch and looks around, his eyes crying for help.

"I – I gotta pee, be right back." Alex watches Jack walk fast to the bathroom and then wonders how he's going to fix this mess.

He has no ideas whatsover when he hears the water flush two minutes later and then a tap running. Alex straightens himself on the couch, ready to turn everything into a joke, but Jack doesn't come back to the living room yet.  
  
Alex waits.  
  
Two minutes.  
  
Three minutes.  
  
Four minutes.  
  
Five minutes in, he loses his patience and walks in the direction of the bathroom, only to meet Jack in the hallway, by the window.

"You fucker, you put up mistletoe."

Alex laughs, because this is ridiculous and he's being fucking stupid. The little plant is hanging from the ceiling right above his head.

"I didn't. I found it here after my birthday party."

"But you never took it down." Jack's eyes gain this unhealthy glow from the snow outside.

"No."

"Good."

The electricity decides to die at this exact moment.

Before Alex has any time to register what's happening, Jack is pinning him against the wall, pressing with his whole body, his hands go up to Alex's neck and Jack whispers, "I'm going to do something very stupid now."

A million thoughts and one more are running through Alex's head, but then Jack's warm lips press close to his and all the thoughts are lost forever.

Jack makes a soft, muffled noise at the contact. His lips are moving slowly and Alex kisses back without any hesitation, just because it might be stupid, but it also feels so right, like the first time he ever picked up a guitar.

Alex pulls Jack closer by the waist and parts his lips. Jack's tongue darts in, sliding over Alex's teeth, and Alex opens his eyes to see nothing but darkness in front of him. Jack's hands are dancing all over his body and Alex feels like he has more skin than usual, and that said skin is way hotter.

He softly bites on Jack's lower lip, earning another whimper from the guitarist, and pushes himself further into this, so far he might never come back.

Jack pulls away only to say, "Fuck. Fuck, Lex."

"Yeah", Alex fills in, because his mind does not compute now and words are impossible to find.  
  
Has Jack been going through the same motions that Alex has? The thought is mindblowing.

"If you want to, like, take this to the bedroom, I'm totally game", says Jack, a hint of excitation in his voice.

What would be the point of saying 'no' to that? Alex is way past lying to himself at this point.

"Yeah, let's go." Alex feels himself shaking with feelings uncalled for.

"But I can't see anything."

"Take my hand."

Jack's hand finds his in the darkness and Alex guides his bandmate upstairs through pitch black corridors.

When the bedroom door locks behind them and Jack is maneuvering Alex in the direction of the bed, Alex feels like he has a bad case of fever. He lands flat on the pillows, impatiently chasing for Jack's lips again, and he very much enjoys the sensation of Jack's weight, wrapped in the Christmas sweater, pressing against his body.

His sanity is long gone.

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

Jack's eyes are wide and warm, his mouth slightly open, cheeks red, hair messed up. _I messed it up like that_ , realizes Alex, and feels irrationally proud.

“Are you sure we're doing the right thing here?”

“You know what? I don't care. I wanted to do it for so damn long I don't care if it's right or wrong anymore.”

“Okay”, breathes out Alex, just a little bit relieved. “Because I don't know how to navigate you anymore.”

Jack gives him one of his hottest smiles.

“Then let me navigate you for once.”

And Alex falls for that, because Jack is already dragging Alex's sweatpants down, and it feels much better just to be in the moment than to overthink it.

“I'm gonna blow you like from here to Detroit, Alexander William Gaskarth.”

Alex shivers a little when the chilly bedroom air wraps around his naked dick, but then it's Jack's tongue wrapping around it and, _oh_.

“Detroit's not that far, you know”, says Alex with difficulty, and he more feels that hears Jack's chuckle. He really wants to put his hands in Jack's hair, but that would be like admitting he's enjoying the funny things Jack is doing with his tongue right now.  
  
Hell. Jack can have this one. Alex threads his fingers through Jack's dark strands and gets a moan in return.

“Whatever, I'm going to show you the time of your life.”

Jack seems very confident about his skills. Alex understands why ten seconds later, when Jack swallows him whole, deepthroating without any problems at all, and Alex makes a very indecent, loud noise. It's not like he's never been given a blowjob, it's just that he's never been given a blowjob by Jack Barakat. He's never been reduced to hands fisting into sheets and stars before his eyes.

He doesn't last very long, not like this, not with Jack's hands playing with him mercilessly and his mouth so wet and soft, movements so expert. Jack swallows quietly and then spends half a minute lying face down in Alex's thigh.

When he resurfaces, he's grinning.

“So? How did I do? Did you have a good time? Did I live up to the hype?”

Alex shakes his head and drags his bandmate closer by the front of his shirt to kiss him lazily, mouthing a 'thank you' and putting it between Jack's lips.

“I never believed the hype anyway.”

Jack is laughing, his erection pressing somewhere against Alex's inner thigh, and suddenly Alex remembers what they're doing. He pushes Jack off, watching the fright painting on his face, but fading as soon as Alex's starts to unzip his bandmate's skinny jeans.  
  
“You don't have to, Lex. If you don't want to. Don't do it just because I did.”

“Seriously? Of course I want to. Now take your pants off, come on.”

*

See, Alex knows he's living a terrific life. He gets to travel the world with his best friends and play music for people who enjoy it. He earns money doing something that isn't even work; it's fun. He's living a sweet, sweet life and he's been thinking maybe he maxed out his luck. Maybe Jack Barakat will never want him and that would be perfectly understandable in the grander scheme of things. Not fine by Alex, but understandable.

But it's Christmas morning, the sun is shining through his windows, snow still falling, but the blizzard long gone, and Jack is beside him, mouth open, breath even. Now Alex has definitely maxed out his luck.

He nudges Jack's arm, even though it's barely 7 AM.

“Jack? Get up. The snowstorm's over.”

“What? S'going on?” Jack rubs at his eyes and tries to focus his gaze on Alex.

“Morning.”

“Gaskarth. Please tell me you're up for some morning sex.”

Alex is not sure if he should laugh or start undressing from the little he's wearing.

“Well, what about your rule? Doesn't it apply to mornings?”

“The one night stand rule?”, asks Jack, voice still rough from sleep.

“Yeah, that one.”

“Nah, it doesn't apply to you. I think I need to review all my rules actually, because I intend to keep you.”

This adorable moment of sleepy honesty from Jack makes Alex launch at his best friend to smother him with hugs, kisses and inappropriate touches. Jack willingly obliges, managing to tear Alex's pajama bottoms off in the process.

“Merry Christmas, Jack”, whispers Alex.

“I thought you hated Christmas.”

“So far, this one hasn't been so bad.”

Jack's smile is brighter than the snow outside.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something cute and in the spirit of Christmas.  
> I hope you liked it! Talk to me in the comments, I live for that stuff.
> 
> Happy holidays!


End file.
